Isner seemed to pick up a slight niggle at the Hopman Cup but thankfully he seems to be on course for the Australian Open!

This is a player that at 6ft 9 has a sporting idol who was in the NBA and not tennis but has ferocious power off the serve and forehand!

The proof is in the pudding that on his day he is the most devastating player in the world! Last year he took the racket out of Federer's hand to beat him in Switzerland in the Davis Cup before beating Djokovic in Indian Wells!

Isner also has the record for the most aces in a match (113). The ferocious power plus enormous serve from such a height mean that if John gets it all together he is going to be unstoppable come the Australian Open which gets underway on January 14th in Melbourne.

Isner seemed to pick up a slight niggle at the Hopman Cup but thankfully he seems to be on course for the Australian Open!

This is a player that at 6ft 9 has a sporting idol who was in the NBA and not tennis but has ferocious power off the serve and forehand!

The proof is in the pudding that on his day he is the most devastating player in the world! Last year he took the racket out of Federer's hand to beat him in Switzerland in the Davis Cup before beating Djokovic in Indian Wells!

Isner also has the record for the most aces in a match (113). The ferocious power plus enormous serve from such a height mean that if John gets it all together he is going to be unstoppable come the Australian Open which gets underway on January 14th in Melbourne.

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Or he gets forced to play a 5-setter in an early round and it's bye bye John.

No one denies he has a great serve but his movement and ,as Tafmatch suggests, his ROS is pretty below average. And saying he's the most devastating player in the world or unstoppable is going way over the top

When you serve as fast and with as much bounce as Isner extracts then returns are not really that important!

Take his match against Federer for instance! In the last 3 sets Fed one of the great returners was finding it near impossible to break Isners serve as a result Federer was under pressure every time he served!!

By the end of the match the pressure told and the confidence this gave Isner transferred to his return game as he won the 4th set 6-2 and was climbing into Federer's serve and breaking him and will with some of the biggest return winners you will see!

He is becoming what Roddick was towards the latter part of his career... someone who can be bested off the ground and any guy with a decent serveand groundies, if he keeps his head together in return games to make a return or two, can beat him.

When you serve as fast and with as much bounce as Isner extracts then returns are not really that important!

Take his match against Federer for instance! In the last 3 sets Fed one of the great returners was finding it near impossible to break Isners serve as a result Federer was under pressure every time he served!!

By the end of the match the pressure told and the confidence this gave Isner transferred to his return game as he won the 4th set 6-2 and was climbing into Federer's serve and breaking him and will with some of the biggest return winners you will see!

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Except they are. That's how come the big fella is a combined 1-4 versus Noel and Murray.

I'd love to see Isner do well at the AO - but those 2 guys are his worst nightmare.

I love Isner, but he's got no chance. If you think that having a big serve means the rest of your game doesn't matter, explain to me why he hasn't won a grand slam yet? How about Karlovic? He's a good server, too. Why hasn't he won one yet?

I love Isner, but he's got no chance. If you think that having a big serve means the rest of your game doesn't matter, explain to me why he hasn't won a grand slam yet? How about Karlovic? He's a good server, too. Why hasn't he won one yet?

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Im in the same boat. Isner is one of my favorite players and I think he will have a good showing in the AO, but until he gets better in the return game i dont see him winning any majors. Still love him though

Murray and Djokovic are two excellent returners! But the fact is Isner won his last match against either of those two last year at Indian Wells! And it is a long time since he faced Murray!

Of course having variation is nice etc but Isner can literally hold at will against the majority of the tour then go for bust in the breakers!

The match v Novak last year is a classic example winning two tiebreakers after losing the middle set pretty convincingly!

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Except for when he can't hold at will at all. See his 2012 US Open and French Open losses. No tiebreaks in either of those five-set matches. Or the Australian where the only two sets he won in the third round were tiebreaks, and he got crushed in the others. His first round Wimbledon loss... where his big serve should serve him best!

Lol...so we're back with the " How on earth can anyone ever beat John Isner with a serve like that?" threads are we?

I thought Mighty Milos had long since taken over Big John's mantle as the player with the Big Serve that everyone will run a mile from?

I wonder if it is because Mighty Milos lost in the opening round of Brisbane that his future 'Goatness' has been put on hold and Big John has been brought out of the closet and dusted down for another run as 'The Next Big Thing In Tennis' ? I have a feeling we've all been here before!

wrong era for him. his serve and FH are very powerful but his movement, BH and ROS is lacking.

I think on the fast 90s grass he could have won wimbledon. I think isner is one of the best servers ever, probably better than pete (2nd highest hold percentage ever despite the conditions of the courts).

of course he would still not be the favorite over pete or becker since those were much better players but I don't think his overall package is worse than krajicek or goran.

Lol...so we're back with the " How on earth can anyone ever beat John Isner with a serve like that?" threads are we?

I thought Mighty Milos had long since taken over Big John's mantle as the player with the Big Serve that everyone will run a mile from?

I wonder if it is because Mighty Milos lost in the opening round of Brisbane that his future 'Goatness' has been put on hold and Big John has been brought out of the closet and dusted down for another run as 'The Next Big Thing In Tennis' ? I have a feeling we've all been here before!

Except for when he can't hold at will at all. See his 2012 US Open and French Open losses. No tiebreaks in either of those five-set matches. Or the Australian where the only two sets he won in the third round were tiebreaks, and he got crushed in the others. His first round Wimbledon loss... where his big serve should serve him best!

I like Isner, but he's got a lot to improve.

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The thing is when you have a serve as huge as John's you can afford to mentally check out for large parts of the match and then at some stage put all your energy into playing a great return game to break!
Sometimes this loss of concentration can spill into your own service games! And that is what happened to John in the matches you mentioned!

Holding at will is not a problem for him! The guy has the 2nd best stats for holding serve and we play on the some of the slowest courts ever now! That says a lot!

Being able to bang down aces 11 hours into a contest shows stamina, durability and immense power!

Even when he takes the pace off his height and direction mean he is still likely to hit a very high portion of aces!

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He's so talented isn't he? Do you think he represents the purist form of tennis? I do! No rallies - groundstrokes are for women. Whenever he's on it makes for great viewing, that's for sure - his athleticism around the court and shotmaking when put in defensive positions is insane. Even better when he's facing another huge server.

Isner's problem is he can't beat the lower ranked players bad enough. He plays long matches in the opening rounds and is burned out by the time he gets to the higher ranks.

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that is the Problem when you cannot return. ripping aces and FH winners at your own serve is great but if you always go to the tiebreak you will also lose some even against lesser Players. that means Long matches.

he can beat anyone in a single set but also lose since every set with him will come down to a handfull of Points (usually in the tiebreak)

that is the Problem when you cannot return. ripping aces and FH winners at your own serve is great but if you always go to the tiebreak you will also lose some even against lesser Players. that means Long matches.

he can beat anyone in a single set but also lose since every set with him will come down to a handfull of Points (usually in the tiebreak)

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The matches will be tight but that is exactly why John with his serve is so tough to stop, his serve can take the racket out of the other guys hand that can include even the top three guys, meaning they are always under pressure to hold their own serve, we are hearing the condition at the AO could be quicker this year, this will play into John's hands even more and make his serve even tougher to break!

He won't make it to the quarter finals at the 2013 Australian Open. So many better players around.

This is tennis, not the NBA or Baseball. You are on your own, you have no team-mates to help you out there and you need to have more than one type of shot to win. You have to be a complete athlete at the top 10 level, not a one-trick-pony. Maybe if Isner works on his ground-strokes (learns how to hit a pro-level backhand) and athleticism he can get to that level. I think he should spend more time in Spain on clay courts training. People will only get better at reading and returning his serve the more they play him as they have with previous big hitters. He is young, he should develop the rest of his game.

I feel sorry for American tennis. I know you guys painfully want a national hero to cheer on, but Isner is no Sampras/Aggassi/Roddick. You deserve better. At least you still have Serena.

Please don't compare him to Sampras just yet; Pete had a gorgeous backhand, delicate touch at the net and great movement no matter how long the match. A more relevant comparison from that era would be Ivanisevic; remember, other pros broke his serve regularly on much faster surfaces without advanced string technologies.

Please don't compare him to Sampras just yet; Pete had a gorgeous backhand, delicate touch at the net and great movement no matter how long the match. A more relevant comparison from that era would be Ivanisevic; remember, other pros broke his serve regularly on much faster surfaces without advanced string technologies.

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Obviously Pete is one of the greatest ever! But Isner has the 2nd best stats for holding and these are on some very slow courts!!

This alone make him a tough match up for anyone but on 90's courts he would have been lethal

Isner seemed to pick up a slight niggle at the Hopman Cup but thankfully he seems to be on course for the Australian Open!

This is a player that at 6ft 9 has a sporting idol who was in the NBA and not tennis but has ferocious power off the serve and forehand!

The proof is in the pudding that on his day he is the most devastating player in the world! Last year he took the racket out of Federer's hand to beat him in Switzerland in the Davis Cup before beating Djokovic in Indian Wells!

Isner also has the record for the most aces in a match (113). The ferocious power plus enormous serve from such a height mean that if John gets it all together he is going to be unstoppable come the Australian Open which gets underway on January 14th in Melbourne.

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for some odd reason, John has never really done well a the Aussie open. I think he might have done better when the court was Super high bouncing Rebound Ace court. but that new surface doesn't really help his serve.

for some odd reason, John has never really done well a the Aussie open. I think he might have done better when the court was Super high bouncing Rebound Ace court. but that new surface doesn't really help his serve.

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Despite the slowness of the courts in Melbourne he's made some decent runs! I agree the high bouncing court was slightly more beneficial to his game but the marginally quicker courts this year are going to to make him super difficult to break!

John seeded 12th for the Australian Open which is fantastic news the big is likely to give many guys in the draw fits in Melbourne with his huge serve on what we are hearing are quicker courts this year!

I like Isner personally as he seems like a decent kid, but no way he is a dominate player over a slam tournament. He might make the quarters and he might spring a big upset, but he is not going to beat 4 or 5 quality opponents in a row in best of 5 set matches. Great serve, good ATP level FH, slight below average BH, movement below average which impacts his FH and BH in rallies, slightly below average return, and slightly below average volleys. Australian courts are not the best for his game either as they traditionally are slower than Wimby and the USO.

You cite wins over Federer and Djokovic but those are like career days for John. I have also seen him lose to others ranked outside the top 10 make he look very vulnerable. On some days, he looks like he cannot get 3 or 4 shots in a row in the court.

Round of 16 is good tourney for John and quarters would be exceeding expectations.

that is the Problem when you cannot return. ripping aces and FH winners at your own serve is great but if you always go to the tiebreak you will also lose some even against lesser Players. that means Long matches.

he can beat anyone in a single set but also lose since every set with him will come down to a handfull of Points (usually in the tiebreak)

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Yeah I don't expect he'll ever make a deep run at a slam. His runs at the USO were over achievements imo. The matches are too long and his always come down to a handful of points, like you said.

What's surprising is how poorly he's done at Wimbledon. Can't even make the 3rd round.

I like Isner personally as he seems like a decent kid, but no way he is a dominate player over a slam tournament. He might make the quarters and he might spring a big upset, but he is not going to beat 4 or 5 quality opponents in a row in best of 5 set matches. Great serve, good ATP level FH, slight below average BH, movement below average which impacts his FH and BH in rallies, slightly below average return, and slightly below average volleys. Australian courts are not the best for his game either as they traditionally are slower than Wimby and the USO.

You cite wins over Federer and Djokovic but those are like career days for John. I have also seen him lose to others ranked outside the top 10 make he look very vulnerable. On some days, he looks like he cannot get 3 or 4 shots in a row in the court.

Round of 16 is good tourney for John and quarters would be exceeding expectations.

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Sure they were some of his best wins! But nearly everyone on the tour can't beat Novak or Federer and if they did it it would be their best win!

John has also taken Nadal to five on clay and Novak as well in Davis Cup!

His serve bamboozles players not just because of the pace but also the wicked bounce and movement that he extracts! He's going to be very tough to beat in Australia!